How to Make Everyone Happy with Rampage 35

Oh,neat. Another Rampage opinion piece. Yep, it's true, but do you know what it means? It means Red Bull Rampage is important. It means Red Bull Rampage has a massive value to our MTB community. It means people get so amped up over incredible bike riding, that they're willing to spout about it for days after the event, and it's because Rampage has something World Cup downhill racing doesn't have; subjectivity.

Speculating and hypothesizing about race performances on a World Cup weekend prior to the clock cementing in results is fun, but once those results are etched into the record books, there's not a lot to talk about. Sure, we may say, "Loic blew it here," or "what if Gwin didn't flat," but the clock don't lie and we can't complain that the clock liked Loic better than Gwin. Rampage results, however, are 100% pure human opinion, and that makes it the best and the worst all at the same time.

I think the Top 3 at Rampage this year were right on. Outside of that, does it even matter? Hell, Stik even asked in the comments why we didn't mention Tom Van Steenbergen's Best Trick result in the photo wrap-up from finals. Welp, we kinda forgot. The Top 3 at Rampage are important and truly, super serious, for reals, it's only the winner that really matters. If the chosen winner is accurate, the rest of the judging is basically immaterial. Now, the riders risking their necks and barfing their bodies off behemoth-sized cliffs would probably beg to differ, but from a general audience point of view, getting the winner right is the only thing that can't be screwed up at Rampage. This year, the winner chosen by the judges was Brett Rheeder, and they were right.

If you've read the other post I made about judging frustration, don't worry, we're not going there again. There were a lot of interesting and in-depth proposals to help with the Rampage problems and it got me thinking more seriously about the topic. The reason? As noted in that earlier post, I love the judges. I know a lot of them personally or as an acquaintance thanks to some past experiences together. Some I've never met, but I know that the people crammed into that (hot) box each possess the freeride MTB equivalent of a Ph.D from Harvard. Comments like "those judges are stupid," or "those judges don't know shit,” break my heart because those judges actually do know everything there is to know about quantifying performances at Rampage, and I am always baffled that they accept the job of judge each year. It's a job with guaranteed crucifixion, no matter how the results work out, and this year was no different.

As I consider why they would accept a job like that, I realize that they're all mountain bikers to the core and they are diggers to the core. Not many people accept the job of digging jumps or trails, but plenty of people like to critique those jumps and trails. I guess it's no different and the judges should be revered and respected as highly as any trail builder.

The way things work now, 20 riders and their diggers are given carte blanche to build whatever they want on a nasty-ass piece of decaying red mountain. Due to time constraints, competitors and their dig crews often team up to get top-to-bottom lines finished while some go rogue and stay solo. Some riders focus on cliffs. Some focus on canyons. Some focus on tricks. Some focus on sketchy drop-ins. The entire period of trail building prior to contest day is one of the most entertaining aspects of Rampage. As we watch, there are more questions than answers about line choice, fear of death is a daily topic of conversation and rider creativity is celebrated throughout this time despite nary a knob hitting the dirt.

Thanks to social media and skeletal reporting from the venue, we already had biases about which line really encompasses the spirit of Rampage. Brendan Fairclough and his run featuring ‘The Rock’ was a social media favorite three days before competition. Massive drops for flips and 360’s rumored to be 70 feet tall were all the rage. Silva was talking about about double-flipping a drop! The judging began before the event did, and the flawed format of Rampage reared its ugly head when the first rider to successfully finish with a crash-free run got a measly score of 67. The rider was Brendan Fairclough and score said that a creative, unique line down the mountain meant nothing in the grand scheme of Rampage scores.

My buddies and I were texting and Skyping about the injustice, as I’m sure all of you were across the globe. While I don't believe Brendan had a winning run, a 67 was unjust and it seemed like the judging for the rest of the day was all to make sure Brendan stayed in the Top 10, ensuring an automatic invite to the 2019 Rampage. Brendog, frustrated with his first-run score, understandably, decided not to ride his second run, much to the disappointment of frothing spectators and webcast watchers.

Once #BrendanGate calmed down a bit and the contest found its rhythm, I realized there was no rhythm. The heart-pounding highs were almost immediately followed by a crash or some other crescendo-crushing episode that could be as simple as a blown traverse or a rider taking it easy*** because their first run was nailed and they didn’t want to re-risk their life again. I couldn't wait to see what rider X had planned, and often, rider X's plan was never seen through to completion. “Well, that was anticlimactic,” read a text I received as the event wrapped up. I, along with tens of thousands (?) of frothing fans just sat there for 5 hours and were kind of left with, “that’s it?”

To be left with “that’s it,” after over 60 people (not including Rampage staff diggers who moved mountains), dug their hearts out for nearly two weeks, is a travesty, and I think I’ve figured out why. Repeating myself for the 400th time, it’s not the judges’ fault. It’s the flaw of letting riders building their own lines and then celebrating their creativity and building efforts for days before the event. All for this creativity and effort to be seemingly disregarded as a piece of the judging criteria.

Aside from extreme free skiing events (which Rampage was modeled after), most credible competitive judged events showcase athlete performances on the same playing field. Slopestyle events, ice skating, gymnastics, skatepark, Megaramp, FMX, the U-Flume (the old kook’s way of describing the half pipe) - they all have a single, consistent work area in which every athlete is contained to create their free-form performances. Rampage, while having a defined arena, let’s the riders blindly try to determine what makes a winning playing field within the arena’s boundaries.

As per usual, in 2018, the highest scoring runs came down to the biggest tricks on the biggest cliffs, which were basically down the mountain’s fall line. There's nothing wrong with that and it's incredibly exciting to watch. But, what if, after marking his run on build day #1, Brendan was told by the judges, “hey B-spot, that line looks super rad, but it’s not going to score well because no drop is over 25 feet and it traverses the mountain too much. That chute is probably the most technical thing on the mountain to ride, but the approach into it is pretty slow.” Maybe Brendan would have just gone home or maybe he would have helped build on the 60 foot drops down the main zone and ridden there.

So, How Do We Fix Rampage?

Hiding scores until the end of the day has been suggested by many. While an easy solution, it’s not the right solution. Endless debate about corruption would go on for decades, the show would be confusing for viewers and riders may have to take unnecessary risks with an unnecessary second run.

It’s the digging and rider creativity that make Rampage such a unique spectacle. If that portion of the event is lost, why bother with Rampage at all? It’s also the most difficult piece of the equation to evaluate, so I propose that only 10 riders (and 5 injury alternates) be selected to compete and that only two lines are built on the mountain by these 15 riders, their digging crews AND the judges. The creativity, collaboration and effort of all involved is pooled together to make two diverse lines that showcase what makes Rampage the pinnacle of freeride; one insane “tech” line like Brendan’s with crazy natural features that require some a tip-toe-like riding skill and one baffling “drop” line like Silva’s or Lacondeguy’s or Nell’s or Storch's, that hauls ass and has massive drops and jumps. These two runs would include options so a rider could spin 30 feet or suicide 60 feet, they could go uber tech or sorta tech. The riders are still in control of how they interpret and execute a run, but pure terrain- and feature-specific judging elements are removed.

Each of the 10 riders gets two runs on each course and the best score from each course is added to a two-run total that determines the overall winner. Each course also has a highest-scoring rider who is awarded some kind of prize, too. Strategy decisions would have to be made by the competitors as it’s a battle of attrition with two runs scored. Some athletes would shine on the jumps, some would shine on the tech. The rider who shines most on both is the winner of Rampage.

Using this format, we’re at 40 runs total (the same as the current format), so the event can run in a single day, we have the beauty of seeing the digging and build-up for a week, and we lay to rest the debate, “which style of Rampage is better?” because both styles of tech and air time are incorporated.

Now this may sound like it gives Rampage too much structure and freeriding should be, well, free. While true, a structure is in place, we’re always left with hate and debate when this event concludes and that needs to end.  We’re also not trying to kill anyone, force them (too far) out of their comfort zone or limit riding freedom. This structure is a happy compromise.

I want to believe that these talented and experienced riders could handle any of the runs built at Rampage this year, so this format should work. The athletes may not want to trade runs with each other, but I think they could. Brendan could huck the big lines with speed and Andreu could creep the tech. This would showcase the 10 best mountain bikers on the planet and they should be able to ride anything.

The Two Major Problems with This Solution

1. Course degradation is the biggest problem with this structured concept. Sending 20 riders down a single line at Rampage may not even be possible. Could Brendan’s or Jordie’s or Rheeder’s lines handle more than two runs without significant maintenance? It's doubtful. Some of those berms shared by a handful of riders were completely exploded this year. This is a big hurdle to overcome and may make this entire, overly blabbing article completely meaningless.

2. The overall winner could be the most average rider of the day. Say Andreu punts and blasts the “drop” course, easily winning that line with a 95, but crashes both runs on the “tech” course walking away with a 22, totaling 117 points. Brendog does the opposite, crushing the tech course with a 94 and crashing on the “drop” course with a 30, totaling 124. Their overall scores fall short of rider X (we’re not gonna name names) who rode conservatively, surviving both courses with 65's and netting a 130 overall. Considering the caliber of riding at Rampage, however, I can’t imagine this would be a huge problem, but it could realistically happen and we may still be left with the dreaded “that’s it?” feeling at the end of the day. That may be something we can never avoid and the format mentioned above will still provide those heart-stopping, full-pull runs of amazement.

I wholeheartedly realize Red Bull has not announced an open call for Rampage improvement suggestions. As if they don't have 40 people thinking about this same issue. I'm a spectator and fan who has no insight into the inner-workings of an event that’s as logistically ludicrous as the 60-foot cliffs on display. I have always applauded the efforts of everyone involved that makes Rampage possible and continue to applaud those monumental efforts. Todd Barber is a madman for taking this on years ago and for choosing to do it throughout these 17 years. No matter what the results or the format, Rampage has defined our sport of mountain biking in a way we never thought possible and I hope it continues for 17 more years to come with plenty of debate and controversy. Thank you to all who make the event a huge success! -gordo

How would you improve Rampge? Holler in the comments.

***Having witnessed, in person, Red Bull Rampage three different years, I understand from experience that the term “taking it easy” doesn’t exist. The most tame, boring-looking run at the venue should be celebrated throughout the world as a feat akin to walking on the moon. In no way do I take any run at Rampage lightly.